Questions and Responses to the most common questions asked during the August 18 Community Forum

What does remote (off-campus) learning look like in plain English?

When students are off-campus / remote, they join the class for live connections either by period in the secondary levels, or at certain parts of the day in the elementary level.  Please see here for mock schedules by building.  These live connections will begin at the start time for each secondary school period, or as pre-determined by your child’s elementary teacher.

• CRS Sample Class Schedule
• AMS Sample Weekly Schedule
• AHS Sample Daily Schedule

Students will start each live connection with a check-in and mini lesson via Zoom or another interactive platform where the whole class (off-campus and on-campus) are learning together via a live connection. Various options for this live connection with teachers is described below.

Off-campus students may then be asked to do work independently or in groups. Examples include:  work independently on a problem, collaborate with other remote students via a zoom breakout room, watch an additional teaching video with embedded interaction, or finish an assignment.  

Concurrently, students on-campus may be doing the same thing with the teacher or with other students in the classroom. They may be getting additional small group assistance, or questions answered by the teacher.  

There may be times during the day, when the students in the classroom are working independently (i.e.;. collaborating with their small breakout groups) , the teacher may connect with remote students for live discussion / attention.  

Remote students will be reunited with the on-campus students for additional mini lessons and  live interaction. 

Learning will differ from class to class depending on the curriculum and what the teacher feels is the best way for the students to be engaged. But each class will follow a schedule that all students will be expected to be engaged in and follow.

This chart compares the on-campus and off-campus experiences.

• Comparison of On-Campus and Off-Campus Learning

What is the difference between live streaming and live connections/live contact?

“Live streaming” means that a camera is mounted somewhere in the classroom and students would simply “tune in” and watch a lesson from a distance. Think of this as a lecture format that you may see most often in a college setting. It is not an ideal instructional delivery for students in K-12 and less engaging. 

Live connections are when remote students join a class at a regular time via Google Meets or Zoom as described above.  We believe this approach (also known as live contacts) is more engaging and facilitates stronger connections between students and their teachers as well as other students in the class.

Can I switch back and forth between remote and on-campus?

We are asking parents to commit for ten weeks to help us in scheduling, preparing classrooms and readying transportation routes. Consistency in registration is important in our execution of our opening plans.  The administration also recognizes there may be some mitigating circumstances and we will try to understand the situation, offer solutions and do what is best for the child and our schools.  

Every family will have the chance to change their decision for the second marking period. 

Will my CRS students need adult supervision to work independently, use the technology and participate in class while learning remote?

The answer depends on your student.  Some of our younger learners are very comfortable using technology, software, typing on a keyboard, etc; some are not.  

Our teachers will be spending time in the first few days helping students become familiar with the new way of learning. It will be helpful for an adult to work with their student in the beginning.  We will be holding webinars during Phase I and Phase 2 of our opening plan to explain the technology to CRS parents so they are able to help partner with our teachers in helping students acclimate to the new learning environment.  Our goal is to use age appropriate and friendly technology so that students can work independently.  

Why must our youngest students bring Chromebooks to school? Won't they be focused on live learning?

Imbedded is the concern that students will have too much screen time as part of their daily lives.  As educators, we share this concern and will be mindful. 

In all our classrooms and in this hybrid environment, technology is necessary and will be integrated to differentiate and enhance learning. It will be used purposefully throughout the day to engage all students. Technology will also play a critical role in connecting the students to each other and help in building community with cohorts in a hybrid model. 

Teachers will support children both in and out of school as they utilize our learning platform and learn to use apps and programs with teacher and support.  The start of the school year will focus on educating students and families on Google Classroom, Google Meets and Zoom so comfort levels and proficiency increase.

If my child is not feeling well on his/her on-campus day, I may decide to keep them home to be extra safe. Will they be allowed to attend school that day as an off-campus student?

If your child is scheduled to be on-campus, and you would like to keep them home for a day to monitor symptoms, you would need to contact the school regarding attendance just as you would on a regular school day. However, you would indicate to the nurse or attendance coordinator that they will be attending classes OFF-CAMPUS that day. Teachers, as usual, will be taking class attendance. 

If your child genuinely does not feel well, we encourage them to rest and recuperate rather than struggle through a full day schedule of off-campus learning, and they will just need to catch up on the work as in pre-covid days.